It would be easy to imagine the clouds of doom and gloom gathering in recent weeks to darken the tangerine glow normally emanating from Tannadice.

Dundee United have lost a Scottish Cup semi-final and, after only making the top six in the Scottish Premier League by the skin of their teeth, hopes of a late surge towards a Europa League qualifying spot have been halted by two straight defeats.

With neighbours Dundee seemingly destined for relegation, money-spinning league derbies are also likely to absent from the bank balance next season unless one of their rivals suffers the kind of late-season financial implosion that consigned Rangers to the Third Division this term.

Yet there are green shoots of recovery emerging from the north side of the street.

The number of young players bursting on to the first-team scene under manager Jackie McNamara has led to midfielder Stuart Armstrong remarking that he feels like a veteran at the age of 21.

We've got some great youth players coming through, especially the ones that have been given their chance recently, John Souttar and, I think, Ryan Gauld in particular is a fantastic technical player and can go all the way

Dundee Utd midfielder Stuart Armstrong

"He's got the view that, if you're good enough, you're old enough," said Armstrong of McNamara before highlighting the emergence of 16-year-old defender John Souttar and 17-year-old forward Ryan Gauld.

"We've got some great youth players coming through, especially the ones that have been given their chance recently, John Souttar and, I think, Ryan Gauld in particular is a fantastic technical player and can go all the way."

"Before his injury, he was doing great and banging in the goals, so I'm not really surprised that a big club in Italy is looking at him," said the 22-year-old winger, who brushed off suggestions that he too might be the subject of end-of-season interest.

"I'm happy here, we've got a great young team and we've been doing well.

"The main thing is to be happy and enjoying your football, which I am at United."

Mackay-Steven also praised Souttar and Gauld, saying the teenagers' performances in the Scottish Cup semi-final defeat by Celtic showed "maturity beyond their years".

"They have unbelievable futures ahead of them and hopefully they can keep it going," he said.

"They are two level-headed boys and they have the world at their feet.

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"And there's other good players coming through as well, so it's great for United."

Mackay-Steven is enjoying partnering Gauld in support of experienced target man Jon Daly.

"He has unbelievable awareness," he said of the 17-year-old. "He's clever and mature and has great awareness and a great touch.

"He's small, but he doesn't let that affect him. He can be anything he wants to be."

Midfielder John Rankin is happy to be the holding man behind two such talented young ball players.

"Gauldy and Gazza are a joy to watch," he said. "We are sometimes a bit outnumbered in the middle of the park to allow Gauldy to play just off the front.

"But we've always said that, if we work ourselves into the ground to give Gauldy the ball, he will produce a moment of magic.

"He is a bit like Gazz and, to have two boys like that, they might be luxury players, but they are certainly great to watch and they can turn the game in the space of a second."